ST LEONARD’S, ST MARY’S WYND, AND CO WGATE. 327
gentlemen, January 22, 1729 ; ” and Chambers has preserved, in his “ Minor Antiquities,”
the bill of fare presented in the same place on the 20th of March 1747, “ By Desire of a
Lady of Quality, for the Benefit of a Family in Distress ; ” probably one of the last performances
there by a regular company. A handsome tenement stands immediately to the
west of the Tailors’ Lands, surmounted with two ornamental gables, bearing on them the
initials of the builders, and over the main doorway the following inscription :-
R - H
0 MAGNIFIE THE LORD WITH ME
AND LET US EXALT HIS NAME TOGETHER. I - H
ANN0 DOMXNI 1643.
Over another door of the same tenement, a sculptured tablet bears the device of two sledemen
carrying a barrel between them, by means of a pole resting on the shoulder of each,
technically styled a sting and lileg. It is cleverly executed, and appears from the character
and workmanship to be coeval with the date of the building in which it is placed,
although the purposes to which the neighbouring property is now applied might suggest a
much more recent origin.’ Various antique tenements of considerable diversity of character
remain to the westward of this, all exhibiting symptoms of ‘‘ having seen better days.”
The last of these, before we arrive at the arches of George IV. Bridge, is another of the
old ecclesiastical mansions of the Cowgate. It is described in an early title-deed as “ some
time pertaining to lime Hew M‘Gill, prebender of Corstorphine,” and, not improbably, a
relative of the ancestors of David Macgill of Cranstoun-Riddel, King’s Advocate to King
James VI., who is said to have died of grief on Sir Thomas Hamilton, the royal favouriteafterwards
created Earl of Melrose and Eaddington-being appointed his colleague. We
find, at least, that the property immediately adjoining it, now demolished, belonged to that
family, and came afterwards into the possession of his rival. The operations of the Improvements
Commission were no less effectual in the demolition of the interesting relics of
antiquity in the Cowgate than elsewhere. Indeed, if we except the old Mint, and the
venerable Chapel of St Magdalene, no other site could have been chosen for the new
bridge where their proceedings would have been so destructive. On the ground now occupied
by its southern piers formerly stood Merchant’s Court, a large area enclosed on three
sides by antique buildings in a plain but massive style of architecture, and containing
internally finely stuccoed ceilings and handsome panneling, with other indications of former
magnificence suitable to the mansion of the celebrated Thomas Hamilton, first Earl of
Haddington, the favourite of James VI., and one of the most eminent men of his day.
Some curious anecdotes of TAM 0’ THE COWGATEa,s the King facetiously styled his
favourite, are preserved in the Traditions of Edinburgh, derived from the descendants of
the sagacious old peer, and many others that are recorded of him suffice to confirm the
character he enjoyed for shrewd wit and eminent ability. Directly opposite to this, a
building, characterised by very remarkable architectural features, was peculiarly worthy of
the attention of the local antiquary. Tradition, which represented the old Earl of Had-
At Society, in the immediate neighbourhood, a company of brewers was eatabliahed -so early 1598.-Hist. of
Kiiig Jamea the Serb, p. 347.
328 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
dington’s mansion as having been the residence of the French embassy in the reign of
Queen Mary, had assigned to this antique fabric the name of ‘‘ The French Ambassador’s
Chapel,” which we have retained in the accompanying engraving, in the absence of any
more distinctive title. An ornamental pediment, which surmounted its western wing, was
decorated with the heads of the Twelve Apostles, rudely sculptured along the outer cornice ;
and on the top a figure was seated astride, with the legs extended on either side of the
cornice. It is supposed to have been designed as a representation of our Saviour, but the
upper part of the figure had long been broken away. This pediment, as well as the sculptured
lintel of the main doorway, and other ornamental portions of the edifice, were removed
to Coat’s House, and are now built into different parts of the north wing of that old mansion.
But the sculpture which surmounted the entrance of this curious building was no less
worthy of notice than its singular pediment; for, while the one was adorned with the
sacred emblems of the Apostles and the figure of our Saviour, the other exhibited no less
mysterious and horrible a guardian than a Warwolf. It was, in truth, with its motto,
SPERAVETI h E N I - n o unmeet representative of Bunyan’s Wicket Gate, with a hideous
monster at the door, enough to frighten poor Mercy into a swoon, and nothing but Christian
charity and Apostolic graces within ; though the latter, it must be confessed, did not
include that of beauty. U I shall end here four-footed beasts,” says Nisbet, ‘‘ only mentioning
one of a monstrous form carried with us. Its body is like a wolf, having four feet
with long toes and a tail; it is headed like a man;-called in our books a warwolfpassant,-
and three stars in chief argent; which are also to be seen cut upon a stone above an old
entry of a house in the Cowgate in Edinburgh, above the foot of Libberton’s Wynd, which
belonged formerly to the name of Dickison, which name seems to be from the Dicksons by
the stars which they carry.”’ Who the owner of these rare armorial bearings was does
not now appear from the titles, but the style of ornament that prevailed on the building
renders it exceedingly probable that it formed the residence of some of the eminent ecclesiastical
dignitaries with which the Cowgate once abounded. The destruction of the venerable
alley, Libberton’s Wynd, that formed the chief thoroughfare to the High Street
from this part of the Cowgate, involved in its ruin an old tenement situated behind the
curious building described above, which possessed peculiar claims to interest as the birthplace
of Henry Mackenzie, “ The Man of Feeling.’’ It was pointed out by himself as
the place of his nativity, at a public meeting which he attended late in life. He resided
at a later period, with his own wife and family, in his father’s house, on one of the floors of
WLeZZan’s Land, a lofty tenement which forms the last in the range of houses on the north
side of the street, where it joins the Grassmarket. This building acquires peculiar interest
from the associations we now connect with another of its tenants. Towards the middle
of last century, the first floor was occupied by a respectable clergyman’s widow, Mrs Syme,
a sister of Principal Robertson, who maintained an establishment there for the accommodation
of a few boarders in this genteel and eZigi6Ze quarter of the town. At that time
Henry Brougham, Esq. of Brougham Hall, arrived in Edinburgh, and took up his quarters
under Mrs Syme’s roof. He had wandered northward to seek, in change of scene,
some alIeviation of grief consequent on the death of his betrothed mistress. It chanced,
Nisbet’s Heraldry, voL i. p. 335. The shield, however, so far differs from Nisbet’s description, that it bears a
creaccnt betwtcn tuw stara in chief.
